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Creating a Pleasant Working Environment
Kobe Steel's human resources policies respect the personality and individuality of company employees while creating a lively and attractive working environment.
We also work with Group companies in various ways to achieve one of the principles of the Kobe Steel Group Corporate Philosophy: "We support each employee in developing his or her abilities, while respecting mutual cooperation."
Human Resource Development
Policy
The goal of Kobe Steel's human resource development program is to foster employees' pride and help them find fulfillment in their work. To that end, it is important for every employee to have specific goals for personal growth and make progress toward those goals day by day. The company gives comprehensive support for this policy, with the expectation that every employee will grow and develop through constant improvement.
To ensure that individual employees share the same diverse range of values and go about their work with pride and enthusiasm on a daily basis, we have also set out our ideal vision for human resources at Kobe Steel, as outlined below, and promote human resource development initiatives accordingly.
Career development
In terms of career development, we operate a self-assessment system that provides an opportunity for employees to discuss their professional goals with their superiors and plan their careers. This forms the basis of our job rotation scheme, the aim of which is to develop employees' skills while also taking into account their goals and the company's business needs. We also operate a personnel recruitment system that is designed to encourage independent career development
Support for skills development
Although development revolves around ongoing practical experience via on-the-job training (OJT), we also provide supplementary offline training aimed at improving specialist expertise, in line with different areas of business, technologies and skills. Recently, we have been focusing on improving basic skills among young and mid-level employees and improving their ability to identify issues, while at the same time working to reinforce rank-specific training. We are also encouraging young employees to experience working in other areas and implementing initiatives aimed at enhancing specialist expertise, as part of our commitment to targeted human resource development and optimum placement.
Catering to a globally expanding business
As part of our medium- to long-term business vision KOBELCO VISION "G," we are committed to meeting demand in growing markets, particularly in emerging countries, and expanding our operations globally. A key element of that is the planned development of our human resources.
1. Significantly increasing employees with overseas experience
In fiscal 2011, we started sending trainees overseas to experience working in other countries. We are actively and deliberately assigning young and mid-level employees to overseas locations and getting them to experience work at the local level, as part of a program of targeted development that should produce human resources capable of dealing with a globally expanding business.
Looking ahead, we intend to establish a framework through which we can send 20 employees overseas every year.
2. Recruiting and developing talented people with language skills and adaptable international capabilities
We try to recruit people who are eager to work overseas, including foreign students living in Japan and people with advanced language skills. We work with Japanese universities that actively accept foreign students, and with overseas universities in countries such as the United States and China, as part of our commitment to recruitment and human resource development.
3. Improving language skills
In an effort to improve language skills across the board, we have created an environment in which 1,000 employees of the company can learn English from foreign teachers. We are also expanding our training systems to include training in other languages such as Chinese.
4. Reinforcing support systems for national staff
We continue to provide human resource development support for national staff at our overseas locations. In August 2011, we invited eight national staff members over to Japan to attend KOBELCO Global Session 2011. The aim of this event is to give local employees who work in our overseas companies a real feel for Kobelco, through activities such as tours of manufacturing facilities and safety training, and to make them feel that they are part of the KOBELCO family, through interaction with employees and executives in Japan. We also want to give them a better understanding of our medium- to long-term business vision, so that they make an even greater difference at their respective overseas workplaces and help up achieve that vision.
We intend to continue with initiatives such as this in the future.
Honing language skills to get more out of work and life
Shintaro Hashiba
Kobe Steel USA Inc.
(including Hashiba on the far left)
I provide administrative support for personnel and general administration, as well as support to around 50 Japanese employees assigned to work in our U.S. companies. The better your English ability, the more you get out of work and life, so I'm always looking to hone my language skills so that I can broaden my horizons. I hope to make the most of my current experiences in order to promote KOBELCO's added-value products in countries undergoing rapid economic development in the future.
Using my language skills and technical knowledge to build bridges between Kobe Steel and Chinese companies
Wu Jing
Copper Flat Rolled Products Sales Department
Aluminum & Copper Business
As KOBELCO has a hand in developing infrastructure, I have always kept an eye on the company, even when I was living in China. These days, my job is to market products to our customers. Since I am usually entrusted with my work, I find it really rewarding. In the future, I would like to use my language skills and technical knowledge to tap into even greater demand for Kobe Steel products in China.
Eliminating Gender Bias
As we have been recruiting considerably more female employees in recent years, we are committed to creating an environment in which women can fully exercise their abilities. As part of our efforts to achieve this, we have introduced a mentoring system for female employees in career-track positions.
Under our mentoring system, employees have access to a mentor (advisor), in the form of an experienced general manager or deputy general manager other than their immediate superior. Interacting with a mentor and sharing in their expertise and experience give employees the support, both practical and psychological, they need to develop their careers and abilities.
The system is proving popular with users, with comments including "it has enabled me to map out a clear direction for myself."
We are also planning to increase the number of managers who regularly come into contact with female employees in career-track positions, in an effort to create a human resource culture that is more focused on nurturing such employees.
Supporting a Balance Between Work and Personal Life
To maintain an appealing workplace, Kobe Steel actively creates a work environment that supports both the jobs and the personal lives of employees.
Formulating and implementing a private-sector employer action plan based on the Next Generation Education and Support Promotion Act - Developing efforts to reduce overall working hours by having employees take more annual paid vacation days and by increasing worker productivity.
- Expanding support for childrearing and home care beyond what is required by law
Major Recent Initiatives
- Extending parental leave (until the child reaches the age of three). Started from fiscal 2008.
- Expanding flexibility in working hours for childrearing (until the child graduates from elementary school). Started from fiscal 2008.
- Extending leave for home care (to a maximum of three years). Started from fiscal 2008.
- Introducing paid nursing care leave for children and family members. Started from fiscal 2010.
- Scheme to enable employees to work from home on selected days for the purpose of childcare or nursing care. Started from fiscal 2011.
- External service agreements for elderly nursing care support. Started from fiscal 2011.
Among Kobe Steel employees, around 25% of all households consist of couples raising children on their own, with no support from their parents or other family members. As such, childcare is accounting for an increasingly large proportion of employees' lives.
We are committed to creating an environment in which male employees can play an active role in raising their children, as well as female employees (introducing new schemes, promoting existing schemes, etc.)
User's Comments
Using the work-from-home scheme on half days to attend school events
Osaka Branch Office
On days when I work from home, I spend the mornings processing work-related data at home and then attend school events in the afternoon. Most events at my child's school are in the afternoon, so I use the work-from-home scheme on a half-day basis so that I can use my time more effectively. Although I only use the scheme once every six months or so at the moment, I will have to go to the elementary school more often once I become a neighborhood association officer or become a class parent representative, so I hope use the scheme more in the future.
User's Comments
Putting less pressure on my wife and spending more time with my child
Technical Development Group
I use the work-from-home scheme roughly once a month so that I can ease the pressure on my wife, who looks after our child and the house as well as works. I take our child to daycare before work, and then spend my day compiling data, scouring documents and doing other work-related tasks at home. As I don't have to spend time commuting, I get to spend more time with my child.
Employing Older People
At Kobe Steel, we operate a reemployment scheme for experienced older workers, to enable us to rehire employees after they reach retirement age. We also reemploy older workers from group companies and other sites, so that we can continue to benefit from the skills and abilities possessed by veteran employees. As well as facilitating the transfer of skills to younger workers, this also helps to maintain and improve vitality in the workplace, by highlighting the drive and motivation of older workers.
Other companies in the Kobe Steel Group have introduced similar systems.
- Percentage of Retired Employees Entering Reemployment (Kobe Steel)
Employment of Disabled People
The Kobe Steel Group actively promotes the employment of disabled people through activities such as taking part in joint seminars. We also make every effort to create comfortable, pleasant working environments in which individual employees can make the most of their abilities.
In fiscal 2011, disabled people accounted for 2.07% of our workforce at Kobe Steel, exceeding the ratio of 1.8% required by law. We will nonetheless continue to implement measures aimed at increasing this percentage in the future.
- Employment Ratio of Disabled People (Kobe Steel)
Respect for Human Rights
To maintain a working environment where human rights are respected and that is free of any sort of discrimination, the Kobe Steel Group runs educational programs on human rights, such as human rights awareness training for different management levels.
We are also giving training to recruitment staff on unprejudiced recruiting.
Preventing Harassment
Manual
Our Guidelines for Business Conduct, part of our Corporate Code of Ethics, clearly state that we will not tolerate sexual harassment, power harassment, or any other form of harassment or bullying.
We have in place a framework designed to prevent harassment and quickly resolve any issues that may arise, including operating a harassment consultation service, and compiling and publicizing our Sexual Harassment Prevention Manual. We also cover harassment as part of companywide and groupwide human rights training, and are committed to raising awareness on an ongoing basis.
Health and Safety Management
Policy
Kobe Steel believes that health and safety are fundamental to business management and take priority over all business activities. In keeping with this principle, we strive to create a vital workplace where employees can safely pursue their careers with peace of mind.
Goals of Health and Safety Management Plans
- Correctly understanding all relevant laws, regulations, and company rules, and building a consistently compliant organization and structure.
- Quickly responding to changes occurring in areas such as production, product quality, personnel, company organization, and the environment.
- Creating a corporate culture in which all employees work to protect not only their own health and safety, but those of their fellow workers.
Safety Management
In 1979, Kobe Steel started a drive to reduce accidents at work over the medium to long term. Since then, we have formulated and implemented medium-term health and safety management plans approximately every three years. As a result, the number and frequency of accidents have greatly declined. Unfortunately, this progress has slowed or in some cases been reversed in recent years.
As we take this trend very seriously, we designated fiscal 2011 as "Health and Safety Improvement Year" and implemented activities aimed at eliminating accidents in the workplace. Although we are not working to any specific goal, we intend to keep going with these activities in fiscal 2012 as they are producing results. We recognize that protecting the lives and health of our employees is one of our most important corporate social responsibilities. As such, our top priorities in terms of safety management are as follows.
- Endeavoring to ensure the strict observance of all related laws, ordinances and safety rules and creating a framework for the thorough implementation of health and safety management activities
- Making every effort to prevent similar or repeat accidents.
- Keeping an eye on the changing nature of risks and stepping up activities aimed at harnessing shop-floor capabilities and ensuring safety
- Promoting integrated health and safety activities throughout the Kobe Steel Group and at affiliated companies.
- Frequency Rate of Accidents That Halted Operations
Health Management
To create a working environment that promotes employee health, we are enhancing our management system in both the mental and physical realms, with an even greater emphasis on prevention.
With respect to mental health, we continue to expand our system of consultation offices, where employees can discuss any matter of concern with occupational counselors and specialized doctors, while promoting mental health education at all company levels.
In terms of physical health, we are constantly responding to changes in the work environment and make every effort to prevent work-related illnesses. More than that however, we are also working to prevent the onset of lifestyle-related illnesses, by ensuring that all employees attend regular health check-ups and follow-up sessions.
In response to the threat of influenza meanwhile, we continue to reinforce preventive measures and to formulate measures to combat new strains of influenza, so as to keep our employees safe and ensure peace of mind.
